The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The introduction of the DVR to the consumer world has revolutionized the way viewers watch and record television programs. DVRs eliminate the complications of VCRs and the need for video tapes. DVRs record television programs on a hard drive that is capable of storing a large number of television programs. Because DVRs are usually box-like in shape, and are often found sitting on top of the television sets to which they are connected, DVRs typically are included in the broad category of devices now called “set-top boxes.” Much like VCRs, DVRs receive one or more television signals as input from cables or satellite dishes, (or, in some cases, unlike VCRs, from broadband network connections) and also output television signals to a television set or other display.
At least one such DVR automatically records several television programs in advance of the time that a user will watch those television programs. After one or more television programs have been recorded and stored on a hard drive, the DVR presents, to the user, through the television set, a user interface that identifies the television programs which currently are available for viewing. This user interface comprises a menu that allows the user to select, using a remote control device for the DVR, one of the currently recorded television programs. In DVRs produced by TiVo Inc., this menu is often called the “now playing” menu.
After a user selects a recorded television program, the DVR plays the selected television program to the user by reading the appropriate digital recording from the hard drive and sending a corresponding signal to the television set. While the television program is being played to the user, the DVR also receives signals from the user's remote control. Through the remote control, a user can instruct the DVR to perform various operations relative to the television program. For example, the user can instruct the DVR to play the television program backward for a desired period of time (“rewind”). The user can play the television program forward with greater than usual speed (“fast forward”). The user can play the television program forward with slower than usual speed. The user can cause the currently displayed video frame of the television program to be displayed indefinitely (“pause”), or stop the playing of the television program entirely. In this manner, the user can temporally traverse the television program however the user likes.
Although modern DVRs typically are equipped with hard drives that can store very large quantities of data, these hard drives are still limited in the quantity of data that they can store. In order to free space on the hard drive so that additional television programs can be recorded, some DVRs present a “save or delete” menu (or “dialog”) to the user after a recorded television program has been played in its entirety. The menu gives the user the options of deleting the recorded television program from the DVR's hard drive or retaining the recorded television on the DVR's hard drive for later viewing. The user can select one of these options using the remote control. In response to the user's selection, the DVR saves or deletes the television program in accordance with the user's selection. In response to a user's selection of the “delete” option, the program may be “deleted” as perceived by the user; the program might not actually be deleted from persistent storage such as a hard drive at that point.
This system for freeing space on the hard drive works well. However, it may be observed that the “save or delete” menu, being limited in the number of options that need to be presented to the user, does not occupy much of the frame in which it is displayed. One might even consider the unused space in such a frame—in which no meaningful content is presented—and consider that space to be something of a wasted opportunity. One might especially consider that space to be a wasted opportunity when one realizes that, at the time the “save or delete” menu is presented, the user has just finished viewing a television program in which various products of various companies might have been shown. The memories of these products may still be fresh in the user's mind when the television program finishes, but these memories tend to fade fast.